“You should ask the people you are most likely referring to that question. I'm not throwing cakes that need to be on the bill, and I'm not wearing funny costumes that need to be on the bill. But it's down to the audience to decide if they are willing to pay.”

Have DJs' fees got out of hand?:

“No, I think cheesy pop music has become more danceable.”

If you could be any animal, what would you be?:

“Interacting with your audience is a key element of performance. The heart sign, the thumbs up, the peace sign, it's all interaction.”

Should DJs do "heart hands":

“Some look up to DJs as being role models, so perhaps we have a responsibility in that respect... but I don't think that the use of illegal substances is connected only to electronic music.”

Do DJs have a duty to speak out about drugs?:

“One or two Red Bulls, coffee and sometimes tomato juice. That's more than enough!”

2013 was the year that Paul van Dyk returned to the classics. Less 'Strings of Life', however, than the strings at the Munich National Theatre, mashing together Verdi and electronica in the most auspicious surroundings of the Bavarian Opera Festival.

“It was a big challenge,” he says. “It wasn't about combining Verdi's music with electronic instruments, it was like transferring the compositions into something that could become a proper club night. I'm always up for things that are artistically more challenging.”

But it's been the scale of one other project that has pretty much dominated his year — bringing together the third in his Politics of Dancing series. This will be no ordinary mix album, however. Rather than harvest new tracks months in advance, instead he went into the studio with a wealth of producers to make original compositions. “It became more an artists collaboration album, and I'm really very proud of it,” he says. Who is involved, he can't say. But 2014 should reveal all.